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Topic: Would you go to Mars on the BFS? (Read 9969 times)

In honor of the announcement that an unmanned Red Dragon Mars mission is scheduled for NET 2018:

We can hope that in 10-15 years, regular manned missions will follow leveraging the BFR/BFS (MCT).Let's see if we can fill up an entire BFS with volunteer NSF explorer pioneers.

Getting the financial "BUT" out of the way, would you could go/move to Mars if you could? Post comments and questions too. Note: Given the serious nature of the decision, this poll allows participants to change their votes. Poll closes in 30 days.

I'd go, will likely be able to afford it if current plans hold, but my current employment path is in creative academia, so I'd likely have to go into higher education again (which is entirely attainable), gain another skill set and probably labour hours in another career in order to have a realistic shot at eligibility in the first few decades. Right now I'm barely a twenty something, so this gives me a considerable amount of time to attain any pertinent qualifiers. Providing a Mars colony happens, it's at least plausible I'll be able to go barring disability or death - I just wouldn't be in the first handful of transfer windows.

If I go (and it's contingent on any hypothetical colony growing sufficiently in my lifetime), I'd go as a citizen rather than a pioneer. The social fabric of any martian society would be fascinating to me and I'd revel in the opportunity to witness its formation. How does the justice system operate on Mars? What do people do in their spare time? What will people craft out of an airless, freezing desert world? What passes for the Martian concept of "nature" which has been oh so critical to our sociological development on Earth? We use animal metaphors to define ourselves, indeed, the concept of what it means to be Human has been long explored through the attempt to philosophise the differences and similarities between us and other fauna. Emotions have long been compared to natural forces such as the wind, the tides, the rain. We're used to the concept of having a singular moon. We're used to the sky being a very particular set of shades. Blue, green, yellow and brown are the common colours through which we view the supposedly "natural" world.

Mars contradicts all of these deeply rooted socio-cultural pre-expectations. For us the idea of feeling atmospheric gas against our face whilst outside is something that we crave. For a martian, such an experience is equivalent to realising you're at the bottom of the ocean without a diving suit - the stuff of nightmares. We view ourselves through our interactions with animals, but Mars has no natural advanced fauna except what we take with us from Earth. What then do the Martians compare themselves to? The regolith? Rocks, boulders, dust devils, eddies in the sand? Perhaps Martians will view water as the embodiment of nature in the same way we view nature as plants. Does even the concept of nature have any meaning to them? Will all the Martians, living on a world where advanced life equates to humanity, be vegetarian? Will they equate the consumption of meat on Earth, a world teeming with advanced life, to be senseless barbaric and wasteful?

It is likely Euro-American cultural icons, traditions, diet, practices and religions will be defining on protogenic Martian culture, since many of the initial settlers will likely be American under the given colonial architecture - but that cultural experience will become intermeshed soon enough with citizens from most nations. It's probable that the language of Mars will be English due to its status as a global lingua franca, but they will not be an example of any global mean. Stratified by expertise, education, physical ability and (to a certain, although not exclusive) degree, wealth, most immigrants from Mars will be people who have been at least relatively successful at forging a stable life for themselves on Earth, yet still wish to pioneer. Mars is the ultimate opportunity to start again. You cannot bring your house with you, your BMW is a squandering of valuable steel, you will have to adapt to living in areas significantly smaller than Earth analogues - a big, comfortable, steadily expanding submarine. Unlike on Earth, the fruits of your labour would become immediately apparent to you; most of the employment you will find yourself in will have some direct, measurable ramification for the wider colony. This will likely cause Mars citizens to have a significantly greater sense of self-worth than that of their terrestrial analogues. Just as interesting is what Martians call citizens of Earth. Are we the (somewhat difficult to pronounce) Earthians? Earthers? Terrans? How well will Earth spirituality, religion and practices translate to Mars? Where is Mecca relative to your position in the solar system? Do you pray in the direction of Earth? Can the end of days happen if you're not even on the same planet? Was Jesus a Martian? What holidays and special events will they celebrate? Planetfall day? Earth day? Yuri's Night? Where do all of these dates fit into the Martian calendar? In the place of flowers what do you give to a loved one? Food? A rock? Do they teach kids Martian history, Earth history, the history of spaceflight?

With the skillset that I'm currently acquiring I could readily become a teacher. Mars is going to need teachers because Mars is going to need children - but I wouldn't put that job opening out until a good twenty years after initial planetfall. How will martian kids view Earth? The birthplace of humanity, somewhere quasi-sacred? Certainly the Martians won't have complete autonomy from Earth for decades on end, perhaps centuries. Will they learn disdain for us, will the Martians, in their fragile, intimate communities, find Earth politics, nation states and war utterly repugnant? Will they see us as Neanderthals and Earth a violent place with animals that can eat you, food that decays too quickly, volcanoes that can explode from under you and weather that can pummel you? Will they watch over the Martian internet our natural and human disasters with anger and dismay?

Or will they like us? Will the next generation of Martians consider us benefactors?

These are the questions that are critical to human life on Mars. You're bringing humans there - people are going to ask human questions. The chance of being a human on Mars - in community where everybody needs to pull together to help each other out, fascinates and entices me. The opportunity to observe, document or contribute to it happening is one that is impossible to pass up.

Of course, it might all never happen because people like us who wanted it to happen were too lazy to make it happen. There's that too.

...Just as interesting is what Martians call citizens of Earth. Are we the (somewhat difficult to pronounce) Earthians? Earthers? Terrans?

Old Worlders? Pre-Martians?

Dirters? And what might they call themselves - Martians? Muskites?

I'd go, one day, setting foot on an other world is a dream I have always had. When, and how, and for how long would depend on the details of my future life, family, income, etc, but going to Mars will always be a goal I'd work towards. To stay? We'll see.

I'd go, perfect place for a geologist to retire! Should be able to get another 15 years productive life out of me once we leave in 12 years.Drank enough wine, dived enough in the ocean, will be done dancing with the clouds, and had enough sun on my naked skin. I'd be ready for a new, and last phase of life, in a place I always wanted to go. And what better way to honour your place of birth than looking up to the blue dot in the night sky and yearning for the kiss of a fresh breeze...

I'll probably be too old to go in 12 years, but then again 0.38g would help a lot.

I just figure that I would be to old to worry about coming back ;-)

hey, if they put a head, air, food and water (no need for extensive radiation protection) in a Dragon, 2018, I'd go... great 70th Birthday Present... no worries about bringing me back in 2 years, I'd be too old and weak for Earth by then... If I have to wait 12 years, I'll be 80... that "might" (he said tongue in cheek) be too old... just make sure that they let me take MY music with me... I don't want to end up like that guy in the Movie... probably get Bieber or something like that... first lunatic or suicide on Mars...

I think of Martian colonies as very much like the Survivor or Big Brother reality shows. The last human on the planet doesn't get eaten, and just has to stay alive until the next shipment of colonists arrives. At that point the game begins again.

I'd go, perfect place for a geologist to retire! Should be able to get another 15 years productive life out of me once we leave in 12 years.Drank enough wine, dived enough in the ocean, will be done dancing with the clouds, and had enough sun on my naked skin. I'd be ready for a new, and last phase of life, in a place I always wanted to go. And what better way to honour your place of birth than looking up to the blue dot in the night sky and yearning for the kiss of a fresh breeze...

But if you plan on building a Mars Zodiac, better get a REALLY wide garage.

hey, if they put a head, air, food and water (no need for extensive radiation protection) in a Dragon, 2018, I'd go... great 70th Birthday Present... no worries about bringing me back in 2 years, I'd be too old and weak for Earth by then... If I have to wait 12 years, I'll be 80... that "might" (he said tongue in cheek) be too old... just make sure that they let me take MY music with me... I don't want to end up like that guy in the Movie... probably get Bieber or something like that... first lunatic or suicide on Mars...

I am very disappointed with you view. Do you think any Martian colony with input from the SpaceX CTO will be without access to the Internet?

The evolution of the answers over time here is interesting. The majority of those who answered the poll quickly were willing to go permanently. Now they aren't in the majority anymore. Go figure that the more likely you are to answer this immediately the more likely you are to be willing to go.

Logged

It is all well and good to quote those things that made it past your confirmation bias that other people wrote, but this is a discussion board damnit! Let us know what you think! And why!

The evolution of the answers over time here is interesting. The majority of those who answered the poll quickly were willing to go permanently. Now they aren't in the majority anymore. Go figure that the more likely you are to answer this immediately the more likely you are to be willing to go.

Or the quicker you answer, the less you've thought about it, and the less you think about it, the more likely you are to say you would go

Yeah, I'm willing to move there in the next 12 years if I make it... I've spent 2/3rd of my life here on Earth, so why not the rest of it on Mars... I'll be old and not much use except maybe watering the potato garden... Maybe I'll baby sit the young Martians while their folks are out working the land...